Hi All. I am thinking of getting the Kato V2 track expansion pack. This is the one that turns your starter set oval into an over / under figure 8 arrangement. Question, does anyone know what the % grade is? Will 6 axle locos and steam make it up this grade? Thanks
The V2 set just adds an elevated section with a bridge section and piers to raise and lower track to it. It does include some additional curved and straight track sections, but it needs at least the base oval to make a complete figure 8 circuit. On its own, it does not make a figure 8. Be aware that the grade it creates is rather steep, and there are a number of comments about it being too steep an incline for many locos, and limits others to very short consists. Kato does (or did) make a half-height pier set that stretches out the incline, but that would require twice the amount of track. Hope this helps.
After I bought my first Unitrack basic oval set, the Figure 8 set (at that time it was a complete set, not an add-on) was the very next track purchase. The next purchase after than was some additional viaduct pieces and the gradual incline pier set (with intermediate height piers relative to the original pier set). Made it much easier for trains to scale the more gradual grade. The Unitrack was a huge improvement over the B'man sectional track (with roadbed) that came with my first N trainset. After replacing the couplers on the B'man rolling stock, the railcars are the only thing I still run. I used to have the 4-8-4 loco on static display in a park scene, a task for which it was better suited.
Bookbear, thanks for the response. I am aware that you need the original oval to work with this set. What I really would like to know, is what the actual % grade the V2 creates. ( when added to the M1, or starter oval)
Adding the intermediate inclined pier set (and perhaps extra viaducts for the additional elevated track pieces between them,) is about 2.75%. It varies depending on the lengths of the viaduct pieces between in/declining piers, so you don't want to use short viaduct pieces in the inclining/declining portions of your elevated track. The add-on intermediate incline pier set also includes plastic clips that let you add piers mid-span on viaduct sections, but that increases the grade to the same as if you did not use the intermediate piers at all. The grade approximately doubles to about 5.5% if you do not use the intermediate piers (or if you place the intermediate piers at mid-span on the existing viaduct sections.) Again, this is approximate, and depends on the track length between successive inclined piers. Note, the inclined pier sets employ grade (slope) easements, with less change in elevation between successive piers at the top and bottom of the grade, compared to the middle of the grade. The grade figures I gave above are average, so the the actual grade will be higher at mid-grade than the average, and the actual grade will be lower than average at top and bottom of the grade.
I think more N Scale Bachmann 4-8-4s serve as park displays than operate. Someone should produce a micro-font historic marker for these reading something like "This locomotive was acquired with good expectations, but shop crews were unable to overcome its deficient design."
If only we could take the same tax deduction the 1:1 owners took when they donated theirs... At least theirs actually ran very well before they were retired.
am loving this thread - when my mgr at work first heard I was starting a N layout, he gave me an old Bachmann 4-8-4 w/52ft tender that I have been trying to figure out how to use. You know, an old American steam loco on my very modern Japanese layout! I found out they used US-built HK Porter steam engines in northern Hokkaido to move coal back in the late 1800s/early 1900s and still have an operating one that offers daily rides at the Otaru museum, have thought about something similar, but it's a far cry from being the behemoth that Bachmann is. A stationary "Ooo, look at that" is all I've been able to come up with lol
A kitbash producing an 0-4-0 with 80" drivers and a foreshortened tender riding on just one truck would perhaps be just the ticket.
0-4-0's with 80" drivers, that won't run smoothly at less than 60 scale miles/hour, are indeed memorable, even more so with a bobber tender bouncing merrily thereafter. A Nantucket sleighride ain't got nothin' on that! I bet you could sell tickets like hotcakes for that excursion.
